Fantasia 2010: MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD Review

Rin (Yumi Sugimoto)
is a normal high school girl in
Japan.
She wears a sailor outfit, very pretty, has loving parents and is
turning
sixteen. Her life at school may be a little miserable because of mean
bullies,
but little does she know that it is just going to get worse, or better,
depending
on how you look at it.

Upon her arrival at home,
Rin finds out that she is a descendant
of the ancient Hiruko clan that is gifted with superpowers. Not long
after this
new discovery, a group of anti-mutant government super soldiers come
swarming
in and butcher Rin's parents.

After almost
killing the entire town due to misunderstanding
and grief-fueled rage, Rin meets Rei (Yuko Takayama). Rei introduces Rin
to a
small rag-tag group of mutant rebels led by the androgynous Kisaragi
(Tak
Sakaguchi), who is bent on restoring the Hiruko clan's place in the
world. Rin's
new found friends all have really unique powers, including breast
swords, an anal
chainsaw, and a living stomach.

Yes. Breast
swords and an anal chainsaw, as in swords piercing
out of the boobs and a chainsaw that comes out of the butt.

Directors Tak Sakaguchi (BE A MAN! SAMURAI SCHOOL),
Yoshihiro Nishimura (TOKYO GORE POLICE) and Noburo Iguchi (ROBOGEISHA)
have
concocted a movie that is familiar to those who know their past works.
This
does not mean that MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD is boring - far from it. While the
tone of
the movie is not as wacky as VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL, MUTANT
GIRLS
SQUAD is still very funny. It feels almost like a revisiting of TOKYO
GORE
POLICE's premise, with a more humorous twist.

The
mutant premise is familiar. There are a bunch of super
powered heroes out there. The fact that the superpowers are so hideous
and at
times even unfathomable is something else. The mutations amongst the
Hirukos can be downright scary. They are reminiscent of
something
out of a Cronenberg movie, but at the same time not a new addition to
the
overall aesthetic to a Nishimura movie. Did anyone ever notice that
Nishimura also
has like the same song play in every single movie? The song that goes on
when
the girls fight, I swear I heard it in MACHINE GIRL, TOKYO GORE POLICE, and
this movie.

MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD is plenty
funny and plenty familiar. There
are moments in the film that will stay with me for a long time.
Personally, I
still cannot get over Sakaguchi as Sakaragi who is basically a crazed,
psychotic version of Michael Jackson, trying to get his
belly-sword
hard. Unfortunately for him, this is only possible by summoning ancient
demonic
powers and blood sacrifice.In its
entirety, the film is not exactly that different from its predecessors.

There are two different kinds of people who will see
this
movie: those who know what they're getting themselves into and those who
do not.
The film features ridiculous, completely over the top and borderline
offensive
content that may not be for everybody. There is a lot of blood spilled
in the
movie... a lot. There are also a plethora of sexual innuendos and sexual
jokes
that may come across kind of imbecile, but hilarious nonetheless. While
certain
people such as myself find this extremely entertaining, some people
don't - usually
the kind of people who have no sense of humor, or decent, less broken in
the
head people.

Those coming into the movie with a
prior knowledge of what
to expect of it will get exactly what they were looking for. At times
MUTANTS
GIRL SQUAD may feel a little too familiar, but fortunately there are
enough
unique comedic elements scattered throughout the film that make it
still
totally enjoyable.

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